Fantastic Sh*t for Learning

I did actually write a full long-winded entry back in October – that in the haze of pre-7am commute to work got deleted. My patience wore thin pretty quickly in trying to recover it. Then I go distracted by How to Get Away with Murder & The Apprentice.

Yes I really am embodying being 23 to its fullest!

In the same theme of pretending I have my shit together (which I definitely don’t!) I’m going to pretend that because it’s been a year since I graduated university I have some words of wisdom to pass on.

Although this post is nothing to do with graduation. Or advice. But I’ve started writing this on a Sunday night and I think my brain has finally given up! So ignoring my inability to coherently explain what this post is about – this is a post highlighting some COOL learning SH*T that I am obsessed with!

Now before you roll you eyes & click away to watch some more cat videos on YouTube, this ‘ain’t anything like ‘learning’ at Uni!

These are 4 things that I have been reading/listening/playing around with which have made me really engage and appreciated some of the incredible things people are doing.

The problem you sometimes face, both whilst at university & once graduated, is that you only take in content that is directly involved with what you are doing at that moment in time. So when writing an essay about Health and Safety at Festivals, you’re really only going to be looking at articles or books that explore H&S or Festivals. BUT if you took a step back and looked at H&S within the context of live motor racing or even further afield into a manufacturing plant – you will start to notice processes and areas that have not yet been adapted or understood by those in festival H&S.

Looking outside of the bubble of one topic area or interest can hold great value in enhancing and developing your own thinking, and that’s why I want to share these 4 fantastic resources with you!

The only resource on my list that cost money (but their website is 100% free!) I started reading Wired Magazine on a regular basis back in September. Prior to that it had been a website which had often came up when I was researching for pitches, but it is really amazing because it looking into many different industries and topic. The magazine, for me, encompasses everything I am interested in – technology, innovation, science, businesses, lifestyle! For example I’ve learnt about the company BioMASON & how Ginger Doisier (CEO) is created bricks that are grown from micro-organisms, a process that could dramatically reduce carbon omissions.

I have always been interested in hearing what other people do, both in terms of their work and interests, because I love to hear about things people are passionate about. I love hearing about things I just don’t have the knowledge or experience in. I wish I understood more about science and computing, I wish I was innovative enough to come up with some of the incredible and impressive things people are creating and changing about the world! And whilst I might not have the skills or knowledge in these areas, that great thing is that Wired enables me to understand a little more than I did before.

I’m not even exaggerating when I say this is a FANTASTIC podcast. It is literally amazing!

I would say this is more entertainment focused than the other three things, but fundamentally Pip interviews a different person each week from people like Simon Pegg through to Greenpeace! He includes quite a range of people, many who I’ve personally not heard of before, or never previously had a big interest in BUT that is what makes this podcast so great.

His interviews are in-depth, interesting and bring forward a lot of things you might not previously have known! One of my favourites was the Frank Carter interview – a musician I hadn’t heard of before, who doesn’t fit my normal musical tastes, but who’s interview was really interesting! So I hands down recommend that you go and give a few of these a listen!!

On the same theme with Podcasts I am a massive MASSIVE fan of Jessica Harris’s From Scratch. Whilst a ton more business orientated than Distraction Pieces, this offers an insight into how successful businesses are created! The amazing and interesting people/companies I have found via this is astronomical, and at 30 minutes they are a great one for short journeys.

If you are entrepreneurial or just want to hear about how cool things are created – then this podcast is well worth a listen!!

This one is a personal favourite! It is also site that came highly recommended by loads & loads of people when I first expressed an interested in learning Code!

If the name didn’t give it away this is a free website that teaches you how to code – I’m currently learning HTML & CSS but there are so many different Coding languages you can learn via the site! And did I mention it is FREE and incredibly EASY to use!?

I had tried a few different apps and online courses before I started using Codecademy and this trumps all of them by a mile! The simple customer journey and ease of learning makes it one of the best and because it is broken down into simple manageable chunks – you can easily spend as little as 10 minutes a day on it!

So there you have it, just a few cool things to get you thinking (& learning!)

I kinda feel like I have a duty to share these resources, because whilst I’m happy to use them all on my own it only seems right to let you guys in on the secret! So please let me know if you check any of these out, or even better if you have a few suggestions of things I should be using/listening too – I’m a big fan of podcasts (especially Serial) and websites/blogs!

Feel free to either leave suggestions in the comments or drop me a tweet (@imdamnstudent). And because it might be a while till you next see an update on the blog, a reminder that you can find me on Instagram and occasionally blogging over on The Olive Fox!